Book Review: Meet the Sky

Blink Publishing is on FIRE with their YA division as of late and I just want all of them. I read A Touch of Gold and gave you that review earlier this week and I also read this gem, also in one day. I have other books in my review queue but they both looked so good I couldn't wait and I'm so glad I didn't.

Meet the Sky - McCall Hoyle

It all started with the accident. The one that caused Sophie’s dad to walk out of her life. The one that left Sophie’s older sister, Meredith, barely able to walk at all.

With nothing but pain in her past, all Sophie wants is to plan for the future—keep the family business running, get accepted to veterinary school, and protect her mom and sister from another disaster. But when a hurricane forms off the coast of North Carolina’s Outer Banks and heads right toward their island, Sophie realizes nature is one thing she can’t control.

After she gets separated from her family during the evacuation, Sophie finds herself trapped on the island with the last person she’d have chosen—the reckless and wild Finn Sanders, who broke her heart freshman year. As they struggle to find safety, Sophie learns that Finn has suffered his own heartbreak; but instead of playing it safe, Finn’s become the kind of guy who goes surfing in the eye of the hurricane. He may be the perfect person to remind Sophie how to embrace life again, but only if their newfound friendship can survive the storm. 

You know I like to start by telling you the star rating so I'm going to give this one 4.5 stars. The only thing keeping this back from a full five stars is Sophie was a little annoying for me, too timid, too cautious, too rude and assumes everything really is about her when there's a whole world circulating around her. It took me some time to come around with her and I appreciate her independence but sometimes I wanted to shake her and tell her to stop being a brat.

With that, there is so much  more that this book does right so it far outweighs her annoying personality. We have Sophie, who is trying to hold everything together since her dad up and left the family following a catastrophic accident leaving her sister Meredith with a brain injury. She's responsible and does far more than her share of the work while her mom tries to pull the rest of the family together. But trouble is approaching in the form of a hurricane and so her mom and sister drive off first, with Sophie to follow. Except it doesn't go as planned and Sophie finds herself stranded after her tires blow out, only to be rescued by her long ago friend, Finn. Finn is back in town after moving away for awhile and they have some awkward unfinished business since he supposedly stood Sophie up a dance. Finn agrees to help Sophie get to her mom and sister but the storm gets out of hand and some costly delays make it so they are stranded on this little island together and alone. They weather the storm while learning dark truths about their time apart and Sophie, in the matter of 48 hours or so, discovers how selfish she's really been under the guise of being helpful.

I absolutely loved this book and again, finished it in one sitting. I loved Finn's character even though I wanted to shake some responsibility and common sense into him, I also appreciated his free spirit and go with the flow despite tragic circumstances. There were a few things at the end that felt a little rushed, or that I didn't get enough of an ending for, but other than that I really loved this one!